new habits for 2022

I’m trying a new approach to habits in 2022, based on the ideas from Cal Newport’s blog post Cultivating a Deep Life, which I wrote about in this post.

Cal suggests working over one-month periods and trying a small number of changes in each of what he calls the “four components of the deep life” (constitution, craft, community and contemplation). He suggests that for each month for each area, you experiment with adding a habit you want to adopt and reducing one that is hindering your progress in that area. After a month you can see what works and keep it, and dump what hasn’t worked, and try out something new the next moth.

Cal says that with this approach, over time, you’ll have built up a series of new habits that add value while at the same time having reduced ones that don’t.

Keeping this approach in mind, I’ve chosen three areas to focus on in 2022:

  • supporting my body and mind
  • engaging in meaningful work
  • exploring.

There is another area but it’s so close to meaningful work, I’m including it within that for the sake of keeping things simple.

At the time of writing this (end of January 2022), I’m still setting myself up for the year and sorting through a big list of habits I want to change, some of which will come out of things I do in my 22 for 2022 list. There’s also a lot going on in other spaces of my life that is draining my energy and my attention, so I’ve told myself to take this easy and not put too high an expectation onto myself. I’m trying to plan just one month at a time, and not worry too much about what happens down the track because that’s all likely to change. I’d rather spend time doing things while I can rather than working on elaborate plans that I may never get to.

I’m not sure how to go about this so here’s a starting idea while I figure it out.

Daily habits plan: January/February

Area Keep Start Stop
Supporting my body & mind Morning walk
Meditation
Afternoon exercise
9.30 shutdown
10.30 bedtime
Jaw exercises (don’t ask!)
Controlled breathing
 
Meaningful work   Daily plan (timeblocking trial)
Daily review
 
Exploring Reading    

Now I need a way to track them.

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